Soda crystals in dishwasher(?)

El Tarangu

Hello,

For the past week or two, my dishwasher has been acting up - at the beginning of the cycle, at the point where it starts to drain for the first time, it stops, and I get a flashing error light.

Checked to see that there was nothing blocking the filter, and then poured a load of baking soda, followed by hot water & vinegar down it, which seemed to meet with limited success. A couple of washes later, the issue was happening again, and the baking soda/vinegar combo was having no effect.

Now, I know the best thing to do would be to remove the outflow pipe at the back and mechanically clean out the pipe - and I will, just the past two weeks it was not possible to find the time to do this.

In the interim, as a sort of last-ditch attempt at a chemical solution, I tried pouring some soda crystals, followed by a kettle of boiling water, into the filter. The effect was immediate, the dishwasher started on the second go and ran the full way through the programme (whereas previously I had needed maybe 10 attempts to get it going).

My question is: I have seen some people online saying that soda crystals are bad for the dishwasher, and other people swearing by them, but haven't been able to find any authoritative explanation for either position. Will my dishwasher be able to handle another couple of washes with a dose of soda crystals at the start? Or am I creating bigger problems for myself down the line?

Thanks,
El T.

ColmLouis

I think that putting soda crystals to clean a dishwasher is fine but using it as a daily dose or in place of dishwasher salt is the problem.

El Tarangu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118082251#Comment_118082251

Wow deep cut 🙂

Thanks for the response - I tried out the soda crystals a few times to diminishing returns each time. In the end I replaced the pump, and the dishwasher is still to this day motoring along.